Jesus and Mary Chain – 3Olympia – Live Review
by Killian Laher

Jesus and Mary Chain – 3Olympia – Live Review on Mon 25th Mar 2024

The Olympia was busy for the visit of Glasgow’s original brats the Jesus and Mary Chain to Dublin.  It’s a pleasant surprise that the band are still managing to draw a crowd many years after their heyday.  The support band Aircooled played a set of somewhat dated, electronic crossover rock.  No Reason To Lie had a vaguely dancey groove, while the late 80s channelling Star Rider wasn’t improved by a clarinet solo.  Sing Pilgrim Sing started out like Bon Jovi before morphing into the type of thing Roxette used to do. A bit of static livened it up but I suspect this was accidental.

The headliners, the Jesus and Mary Chain, started with jamcod from the new album, kicking up a decent racket.  The shambolic shows of old are long gone, the band is very much a conventional rock band these days, and a very good one at that.  Head On was loud and visceral and Far Gone And Out had the crowd singing “hey hey hey hey”.  Newer material All Things Must Pass and Chemical Animal were given a slightly heavier treatment than the recorded versions and worked well with the older material.  In A Hole was gnarly and scratchy while Cracking Up allowed William Reid to show off his considerable guitar skills.  Girl 71 provided a sweet moment, Jim Reid duetting with girlfriend Rachel Conte while wrapped in each others’ arms.

It wasn’t all note perfect, they botched the beginning of Sidewalking but managed to pull it off.  Nine Million Rainy Days felt like an appropriate song given the current weather and it sounded wonderful, a malevolent, heavy crawl.  Jim Reid sounded like Iggy Pop’s nephew on a chaotic Venal Joy, and they followed this up with a back-to-back rendition of I Love Rock and Roll and then I Hate Rock and Roll.  They were joined by a singer named Emily for Sometimes Always and Just Like Honey.  Their most renowned material, off of Psychocandy, can never be the same as back in their heyday without the feedback but despite that, there were few complaints in an exciting set.

As they returned for an encore Jim Reid told the audience “We’ve got a couple more songs if you can stand it” before a triumphant Darklands.  They finished with a superb Reverence, featuring a long drawn-out guitar intro.  It was without doubt the highlight of the night, and Jim Reid chanting “I wanna die! I wanna die!” was something to behold.  An excellent gig, the band are really tight and playing their best shows in years.